THE POLLINATE ENERGY SOLUTION

Fighting poverty in India. Bring life-changing products to the people that need them most

OUR POLLINATE ENERGY SOLUTION

Our solution is a distribution network that brings life-changing products to people who need them most

The problems facing India’s urban poor are complex, so the solution needs to work on many levels. Pollinate Energy brings life-changing products straight to families’ doorsteps, educating customers about products and providing payment plans to make them affordable. We do this through a network of door-to-door sales people – our Pollinators.

PRODUCT ACCESS

Pollinators sell durable, quality products such as solar lanterns, improved cookstoves, solar fans and water filters to families living in slum communities. This face-to-face distribution network allows us to build relationships and trust with our customers. It also means we gain regular feedback about the performance of our products and the needs of the families we serve, so we can keep providing the right products at the right price.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

Pollinators work with families directly in their homes providing education on our products and how to use them. This empowers families to create cleaner, safer and healthier homes.

FINANCE AND SERVICE

We offer all customers short term payment plans to make our products affordable. The rate of defaults on these plans is less than 1%. All our products have a minimum one year warranty and we provide post-sale servicing. This model allows families to save 15 per cent of their income, and improve their health, safety and quality of life.

SOCIAL BUSINESS

What is a social business?

We operate as a social business – this is not a new concept, and in fact it’s how many businesses first came about. A social business is an entity that operates as a business but:

has a social vision/mission (aim is not to maximise profits) and

is financially self-sustainable (not dependent on donations or grants) and

profits are reinvested in the business with the aim of increasing social impact.

In other words, a social business is a financially self-sustainable organisation with a purely social agenda.

There are three models of social business. Firstly, a business can employ people who are vulnerable, like Daughters of Cambodia, which provides training and employment to women enslaved in the sex industry. Secondly, a company can operate as business as usual, and donate profits to a social cause, like Newman’s Own Salad Dressing or Thank You Group. Or thirdly, a business can model its operations around providing services/products to poor markets, which is what Pollinate Energy does.

OUR MODEL

How does our business model work?

THE POLLINATORS

Who are they and what is their role?

Our Pollinators are local Indian men and women who come from disadvantaged backgrounds but have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to make a difference in their own communities. Through Pollinate Energy, they get the opportunity to start their own business going door-to-door in slum communities selling our life-changing products.

In order to get a new Pollinator off a running, we provide them with a Business in a Bag. This is essentially a tool kit with everything they need to manage their own business: from simple things like a transport allowance to more complex tools like smart phones with a Salesforce cloud management system.

OUR PRODUCTS

What type of products do we offer?

We are dedicated to offering products that best suit our customer’s needs. We have a rigorous testing and trialling process in place for new products and product lines, which takes place over a 3-6 month period. This process includes undertaking a needs assessment, procuring the most appropriate product based on a set of criteria (affordability, durability, portability, supplier reliability, servicing availability, etc), providing existing customers with demonstration products for them to use and test, obtaining feedback from those customers and then launching a closely monitored trial. We then make a decision as to whether to incorporate a product into our portfolio.